Judges rule out questioning Chirac

PARIS, France -- The pressure on Jacques Chirac eased after Paris magistrates ruled that the French President will not be questioned about alleged bribes.

Chirac had faced claims that he and his family had used 2.4 million francs ($320,000) of public money to pay for lavish trips between 1992 and 1995 when he was the mayor of Paris.

However, three magistrates conceded on Tuesday they did not have the legal authority to question Chirac, legal sources told Reuters news agency.

Magistrates Marc Brisset-Foucault, Armand Riberolles and Renaud Van Ruymbeke said on Tuesday that questioning Chirac would run counter to a 1999 Constitutional Court ruling that placed the onus on parliament to prosecute a serving president rather than the judiciary.

Under the constitution, a French president cannot be prosecuted by a regular court, but only by the special High Court of Justice. The court, made up of parliamentarians, hears cases of officials suspected of committing offences while in office.